Catholics in the region must adopt “a new way of thinking” if they are to fulfil the call to be disciples and missionaries for Christ, says the Antilles Episcopal Conference (AEC).

“We are counting on you to help us implement this vision of Church for the new millennium in all our local Churches. Only a disciple in love with the Lord can renew the Church!” said the representative body of English, French and Dutch-speaking bishops of the Caribbean.

Titled Disciples and Missionaries of Jesus Christ, so that our peoples may have Life in Him, the statement was issued in late April following the AEC’s Annual Plenary Meeting in Fort de France, Martinique.

Giving brief historical background, the statement said that in May 2007, over 200 bishops from Latin America and the Caribbean along with clergy, religious and lay delegates gathered for three weeks at the shrine to Our Lady at Aparecida in Brazil, “in an effort to build communion and solidarity among our local Churches and to develop a common vision for the Church. The Bishops, wished to give a new impulse to evangelisation to ensure the continued growth and maturity in faith of our people”.

The statement quoted from Pope Benedict XVI inaugural address: “Through our baptism we are called to be disciples and missionaries of Jesus Christ, sharing in his life, imitating his example and bearing witness to him in his call and the missionary mandate to ‘go out into the whole world; proclaim the Gospel to all creation… All baptised persons receive from Christ, like the Apostles the mandate to be disciples and missionaries of Jesus Christ… Discipleship and mission are like the two sides of a single coin; when the disciple is in love with Christ he/she cannot stop proclaiming to the world that only in Him do we find salvation (cf Acts 4:12). In effect the disciple knows that without Christ, there is no light, no hope, no love, no future”.

“The Church in the Caribbean today, in pastoral solidarity and communion with the Church in Latin America, has accepted the challenge to form disciples and missionaries of Jesus Christ, so that our peoples may have life in Him,” wrote the bishops.

The AEC said being called to be disciples and missionaries requires “a new way of thinking, seeing and acting… formation for clergy, religious and all of God’s people in order to fulfil this task with responsibility and boldness”.

“Disciples are formed on the Word of God and the Eucharist,” the statement continued, “and the mission that is envisaged by Aparecida is ‘a mission that must reach everyone, be permanent and profound’. Aparecida is not a new pastoral plan but a vision of Church to inspire and stimulate all the existing and future pastoral plans of all our local Churches”.

“Aparecida is a new starting point of the New Evangelisation of our Peoples. It reinforces the preferential and evangelical option of the Church for the poor, its preferential option for youth and commits itself to defend those who are weak. It calls upon leaders to defend the truth, respect life and the dignity of each person.

“It offers to contribute in the promotion of a culture of honesty that will heal the root of all forms of violence, illegal enrichment and generalised corruption. Today a choice must be made between paths that lead to life and paths that lead to death. Clearly disciples have their mission cut out for them”.

The bishops ended saying to Catholic faithful “this is our time as Church, a time of grace and a New Pentecost. We cannot miss this opportunity. The vision must become a reality.” Visit www.aecrc.org for the full statement.